Dear SaaStr: Which Mistakes Have You Learned the Most From as an Entrepreneur? The top mistakes I’ve learned from: You can do OK with a so-so founding team, but you can’t do great. And great individuals do not necessarily make great co-founders. So slow this part...
Dear SaaStr: My startup is nearing the end of its runway – and I found out my CEO has been taking money from the company. What should I do? Unfortunately, this is a little more common than you think. Maybe even more common today than a few years back, as VC...
Dear SaaStr: As a VC, if you could go back to your operational experience (as part of a hyper-growth startup), then what would you remind yourself to take note of? My top list: Slow down big decisions — when you aren’t sure. You have to move fast and break things, but...
Dear SaaStr: What is Your Best Advice for Maintaining Healthy Co-founder Relationships? Talk. Dysfunctional co-founders don’t talk. Not for real. They stew. They get passive-aggressive. They email. They Slack. But they don’t talk. I don’t mean talk in group settings,...
Dear SaaStr: What are The Pros and Cons of Raising VC Money from a Corporate VC? The pros, and the cons, are both limited. The issues here are smaller than they used to be. Cons: Usually won’t carry the company or write many “second checks”. So not an ideal lead...
Dear SaaStr: Is it a Red Flag if The CEO is Only Interested in Selling the Company? It is. Or at least — it’s a Yellow Flag. The company will never be great if the CEO is thinking this way. There are so many start-ups, so many products, so much competition. You can...
Dear SaaStr: I Just Sent a Email to a VC with Two Typos. Should I Resend It? No, no, no and no. First, VCs want to see strength. Not arrogance usually, but strength. Some whimpy email apologizing for some typos isn’t strength. Second, it shows poor prioritization....
Dear SaaStr: How Do I Take Over Customers From My Biggest Competitor? You can do it, it happens all the time. But you gotta put in the work. 95% of vendors and folks and sales reps don’t actually put in the world. You gotta do the 3 P’s: Patience. Persistence....
As we gear up for 2024 SaaStr Annual, Sep 10-12 in SF Bay, once again on our 40+ acre indoor-outdoor campus, I wanted to take a look back at a few sessions that I’ve come to appreciate more with time. This was one, when Stripe’s first COO, Claire Hughes Johnson, came...
Dear SaaStr: What Was The Best Advice You Ever Got From an Angel Investor The best advice I ever got from one of my angel investors: Stop feeling sorry for yourself. I went to meet with one of my angels and mentors when things were probably toughest at my last...
Dear SaaStr: What’s #1 on the path to becoming a great VP of Sales? Each story is different, but there is one clear penultimate step: recruiting and managing a small sales team yourself. From scratch. What 95 times out of 100 is a recipe for failure is jumping...
Dear SaaStr: Our VC Is Encouraging Us to Hire Aggressively and Increase the Burn Rate. Should We Listen to Them? In my experience, about 66-70% of the time this is bad advice, especially if it is coming from a Very Large VC. Not always — but more often than...